This Note discusses the enactment of 28 U.S.C. § 2255 and the fundamental changes the AEDPA brought to that statute. It then considers attempts by the U.S. Courts of Appeal to define the term “inadequate or ineffective,” the operative language of the savings clause. This Note argues that all of the tests adopted by the Courts of Appeal are fundamentally flawed when considered against all of the interests relevant to the statutory interpretation of § 2255. Finally,it proposes a new test to govern the operation of the savings clause that avoids the pitfalls of the tests adopted by the Courts of Appeal.